🧲 Top Lead Generation Statistics Shaping Your Strategies in 2020

With the marketing industry’s ever-evolving nature, it is no wonder that successfully building brand awareness and achieving high rates of customer retention in B2B has reached a high level of sophistication. Business owners and marketing professionals are now required to implement complex, multifaceted strategies while considering rapid technological developments, big data analytics, as well as consumer behavior shifts into consideration.

As marketers, we need to keep our eyes to the sky and ears to the ground. Only then can we stay adaptive and competitive in the incredibly dynamic world of B2B marketing.

The Changing Buyer

There is often this mentality that B2B marketing campaigns should be corporate in tone, often resulting in a feature-focused collateral that could be hard to digest.

Technology and the ASAP Culture

Technology has invaded nearly every aspect of our lives—from fitness apps connected to wearable devices that can count our daily steps and track our sleep patterns, to music and video streaming, the widespread use of voice search on mobile phones, and the emergence of AI assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana.

With so many new technologies, as well as product and service delivery platforms emerging in this day and age, different forms of content have become widely accessible to virtually anyone with an internet connection. B2B marketing professionals with enough creativity and imagination can now generate high-quality leads in so many exciting ways.

The caveat is that with the growing number of small business owners and B2B companies, the need to complete the process of campaign creation, deployment, and producing results at a faster rate has become extremely vital.

Optimizing user experience and service delivery channels is key for B2B expansion and it can be achieved by streamlining your customer journey with the right technological solutions. An example of recent B2B technology that is starting to reshape the way companies (specifically in tech, media, and finance) work in order to adapt to a faster-paced world is Slack, which is starting to modify the way teams finish tasks. Its features allow colleagues to send instant messages, voice mails, share files, do conferences, and accomplish multiple projects all in one platform, which substantially cuts down the use of emails, and reportedly increases overall workforce productivity.

Another example of a new innovation is the Instagram Graph API, which allows Instagram Business Accounts to manage posts in the platform, manage social interactions with other Instagram users, and have access to better analytics. Having access to optimized reports and data analytics can help get the best ROI for companies using Instagram business accounts.

Just as you closely monitor analytics data to map out customer buying patterns and behaviour, keeping tabs of the latest B2B lead generation trends is absolutely essential for you to make informed decisions for your brand. Here are 27 B2B lead generation statistics to take into consideration when creating, or managing your existing B2B marketing campaigns:

Challenges with B2B Lead Generation

90% of searchers have not yet made their mind up about a brand before starting their search. (Source: SearchEngineWatch)

This statistic only goes to show that while creating great content is important, you should not overlook paid advertising when executing your marketing campaigns, because Google does (and always will) prioritize ads.

76% of B2B buyers leverage three or more information channels when researching a purchase. (Source: Blue Nile Research)

According to Forrester, 82% of purchasing consumers initially view at least 5 pieces of content from the winning company. Marketers should take advantage of the various online platforms available because it’s beneficial for your company to be visible on platforms that are relevant to your brand.

Lack of resources (staff, funding, time) is the biggest obstacle for 61% of marketers working on B2B lead generation. (Source: Brighttalk)

Lead generation is only one aspect of marketing, and the budgets are often spread thin. The solution is to invest in the right services and products that can optimize your overall business operations so that ROI can be maximized.

Cost per lead ranges from $150 to $350 on average, with larger companies paying higher costs per lead. (Source: HubSpot)

The key to making your budget work for you lies in well-researched and timely lead generation targeting tactics. Businesses need to determine the value of each customer and decide how much they’re willing to spend per channel.

55% of B2B marketers say they are unclear on what content marketing success or effectiveness looks like (Source: Content Marketing Institute).

Want to know what type of content will fit your brand message? Do some focused competitor and industry research to see what delights and engages your target audience.

Over 94% of professionals agree that personalized content brings in business. Automation can also streamline your email marketing game and possibly increase open rates as well, with automated emails generating 320% more revenue than traditional emails.

Successful B2B Tactics

Using videos on landing pages will increase conversions by 86%. (Source: Wordstream)

Research has indicated that almost 70% of B2B marketers are using video in their marketing strategies. A polished, quick presentation of what your company has to offer on a well-designed landing page maximizes the chances of potential customers clicking on other parts of your website. Over 82% of B2B marketers reported success with video marketing initiatives in their campaigns.

Organizations with websites of 401-1000 pages get 6 times more leads than sites with 51-100 pages (Source: HubSpot).

Companies with carefully plotted websites rich with great content, and on-brand sections that keep potential customers engaged clearly have SEO and engagement advantages over company websites with fewer pages.

Targeting users with content relevant to their position along the buying process yields 73% higher conversion rates. (Source: Aberdeen Essentials)

Successful lead nurturing hinges on one absolute thing: relevance. This is why every business needs thorough customer research and to create profiles that allow marketing teams to appropriately map the buying process. Then, plot content delivery that meets their needs at the right time using the right medium.

From a sales perspective, 25% of marketers with mature lead management strategies report that their sales teams contact prospects within one day. (Source: Forrester Research)

Having a seamless, results-driven lead management strategy means companies get higher chances of converting leads into viable customers. Only 10% of marketers without mature lead management strategies report the same follow-up time.

Top B2B Marketing Strategies in 2019

80% of marketers using automation software generate more leads; 77% convert more of those leads. (Source: VB Insight, APSIS)

Marketers use automation software because it is fast, efficient, and ultimately gets better results when used the right way. Automation tools make today’s complex, multichannel, data-driven marketing ecosystem possible.

The top three strategies in 2019 are email marketing (62%), content marketing (60%), and in-person marketing (57%) (Source: TechJury)

Higher click-through rates have been reported at 8% for lead nurturing emails, as compared to generic emails, which is only at only 3%. With over 83% of B2B marketing professionals considering content marketing as a primary lead generator tool, and over 91% of B2B marketing practitioners implementing it, it is unsurprising that content marketing is included in the top-ranked strategies.

What’s Shaping Your B2B Strategy in 2019?

Taking note of these B2B marketing statistics will allow you to develop customized strategies tailored to your target market’s profile, brand identity, and overall industry positioning. The key takeaways here are to focus on converting every lead possible in the most cost-effective way. That way, you can maximize returns and stretch your marketing budget.

You can always bookmark this resource and come back from time to time to take inspiration for when you are in the process of brainstorming new campaigns and tactics that could turn your prospects into leads, opportunities, and customers.